Box Score
SLIPPERY ROCK - Redshirt sophomore quarterback Matt Marshall threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns, two to senior wide receiver Doug Ogden, and East Stroudsburg University wrapped up the eighth nine-win season in school history with a 38-21 win at Slippery Rock on Saturday at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium.
The Warriors won their final four games to finish with a 9-2 record, the seventh time they have reached nine wins under head coach Denny Douds. A 1963 graduate of Slippery Rock, Douds improves to 218-142-3 in 35 seasons as ESU's head coach and beat his alma mater for just the second time. ESU is 2-11 all-time against the Rock with the other victory a 7-0 win to open a 10-0 season in 1975 for Douds' sixth career win.
ESU will await the selection of the NCAA Division II playoff field, which will be announced Sunday between 3 and 3:30 p.m. on ESPNews. The Warriors were ranked ninth in Super Region 1 last week, with the top six teams earning playoff spots.
Marshall was 22-of-38 and spread the ball around to his talented receivers. He hooked up with redshirt sophomore Jeff Giglio eight times for 162 yards and a touchdown, found Ogden four times for 96 yards and two scores, and hit redshirt junior Sam Shuman six times for 75 yards and a touchdown.
Shuman also threw a 41-yard pass to senior Drew Stem (three catches, 64 yards) to set up a one-yard TD run by senior fullback Jesse Reider in the second quarter. Reider (15 carries, 57 yards) started at tailback for the second straight game in place of senior Joe Partridge, who has been limited with a shoulder injury, before Partridge ran 11 times for 85 yards in the fourth quarter.
ESU gained 555 yards of total offense, 406 passing and 149 rushing, and outscored Slippery Rock 14-0 in the third quarter to break open a 17-14 game at halftime.
Junior kicker Greg Knauss made his 12th field goal of the season, a 22-yarder, to put ESU on the board with 8:05 left in the first quarter before the Rock took its only lead of the game. Tailback Ryan Lehmeier scored from one yard out to turn an ESU fumble into a touchdown with 5:21 left in the opening period.
ESU came right back with a seven play, 67-yard drive that culminated in the first of Marshall's four TD passes, a 31-yard strike to Ogden, to go ahead 10-7. An interception by senior linebacker David Pacchioni and Shuman's pass to Stem set up Reider's touchdown run late in the first half, but the Rock pulled within 17-14 when Brad Galvan tossed a 41-yard TD to Terry Grossetti with seven seconds left in the half.
The Warriors defense forced a three-and-out to open the second half and Marshall and Giglio went to work, hooking up four times for 57 yards on an 80-yard scoring drive, and Giglio hauled in his 10th touchdown of the season from seven yards out. Giglio had 15 catches for 383 yards and five touchdowns with Marshall at quarterback this season.
Redshirt sophomore linebacker Matt Freed picked off Galvan's next pass, one of three interceptions for the Warriors, but Reider fumbled on the next play. Slippery Rock recovered at the 47 and Lehmeier carried most of the load to set up first and goal at the five. After a four-yard run by Lehmeier, the Warriors defense held on the next three snaps from the one-yard line with redshirt sophomore defensive end Jeff Case stopping DeMarcus Cleckley on fourth down.
A botched snap on a punt set up ESU's next score when Pacchioni tackled punter Kyle Witman at the 22. The Warriors picked up a first down before a sack and two false start penalties brought up third-and-17 at the 18, but Marshall hit Shuman inside the 10-yard line and Shuman did the rest to find the end zone and put ESU ahead 31-14.
Sophomore David Castillo had his third interception of the season to kill the Rock's next drive and returned the ball 46 yards for an apparent touchdown, but two penalties for holding and unsportsmanlike conduct backed the ball up to the 31. Giglio caught a 48-yard pass to make up the lost yardage and Marshall put the ball in Ogden's hands for a seven-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Galvan and Grossetti connected for a 31-yard touchdown, their second of the game, to make the score 38-21 with 13:20 left. The defense stopped Slippery Rock on fourth down after a 48-yard punt by senior Nick Krut, and the offense ran out most of the rest of the clock on the legs of Partridge.
The senior tailback from Bethlehem had consecutive carries of 18, 13 and 11 yards on ESU's final possession, and also had a season-long 21-yard run earlier in the quarter. Partridge finishes his career with 331 carries for 1,681 yards and 17 touchdowns in two seasons as the Warriors' starting tailback.
Fifteen ESU seniors played their final regular season game - OL David Biever, WR Doug Ogden, OLB David Pacchioni, TB Joe Partridge, FB Jesse Reider, LB Fred Rice, QB Tim Roken, DL Jeff Shrive, WR Drew Stem and LB Steve Van Alstine were members of the program since they were freshmen, and OL Ryan Ehrie, P Nick Krut, DB Lionel Mitchell, DL Miguel Rivera and OL Keith Weaver joined the Warriors during their college careers.
Krut and Freed, both top candidates for All-America honors, had outstanding efforts in the last game of the 2008 regular season. Krut had five punts for a 50.6-yard average, his second-highest average of the season, including a 65-yard kick. He will lead Division II with a 46.0-yard average when the next set of rankings are released on Monday and set ESU's single-season and career punting records.
Freed had 13 tackles, his eighth game in double figures and the fifth time he hit 13 tackles this year. He was seventh in Division II with 11.3 tackles per game and has 126 tackles, 11.0 tackles for a loss, four sacks, four interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble this season.
The Warriors last had a nine-win season in 2005, when they were 8-2 in the regular season and won three playoff games to claim the Northeast Region championship to finish with a school-record 11 victories.
